India is proactively engaged with the US to draw the contours of the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) that the two sides are set to negotiate and is holding virtual meetings for the same, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has said.
The Commerce & Industry Ministry is also holding consultations with domestic stakeholders to identify opportunities as well as challenges that emerge from the threat of reciprocal tariffs to be imposed by the US.
“The government is weighing both opportunities and issues emerging from US tariffs. We are doing stakeholders consultation on these issues and will be resolving those issues on a bilateral basis,” Barthwal said in an interaction with reporters on Monday.
Trump tariff
US President Donald Trump has threatened countries, including India, that have high import tariffs on US goods, with reciprocal tariffs that are scheduled to be announced on April 2.
Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to establish “new, fair-trade terms” to work out an India-US BTA that could more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion. The first tranche is set to be finalised by fall this year.
“We are negotiating this bilateral trade agreement, which is… multi-sectoral, and it will be addressing all issues between us mutually. So, all those things which are of importance to both countries will be part of the negotiations. And we are very proactively engaged with the US on this issue,” Barthwal said.
Goyal was recently in Washington DC to talk with his US counterparts on how to proceed with the BTA. Since then, Trump and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have given statements putting pressure on India to commit to stiff tariff cuts across the board. “They have agreed, by the way; they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they have done…,” Trump said at a briefing.
India’s tariffs on US goods are at a much higher 15.30 per cent (2022) than US tariffs on Indian products at around 3.83 per cent.
Lutnick also insisted, in an interview with Indian media, that agriculture must also be on the table and India should be ready for a mega deal.
The US Trade Representative’s office recently posted about Goyal’s meeting in the US. “Ambassador Jamieson Greer had a productive meeting with the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal during his recent trip to the United States.They have since continued to have engaging conversations on reciprocal trade, expanding market access, and President Trump’s America First Trade Policy,” the USTR office posted on social media platform `X’.
The US was India’s largest trading partner in FY24 with exports worth $77.51 billion and imports worth $42.19 billion.
